NICOSIA, CYPRUS (AP) – Greece’s prime minister said on Monday that his government wants to take full advantage of an improving political climate with neighbouring Turkiye to improve bilateral relations despite a string of decades-old disputes.
But Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that didn’t mean Turkiye had “substantially changed” its stance on key differences between the two countries and must “decisively abandon its aggressive and unlawful conduct” against Greece’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Turkiye and Greece remain at odds over maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean, a dispute that affects irregular migration into the European Union (EU), mineral rights and the projection of military power.
Mitsotakis said that he agreed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a North Altantic Treaty Organization summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11 to 12 to initiate new “lines of communication” and to maintain “a period of calm”.
High-level talks between the the two countries are expected to take place in the Greek city of Thessaloniki later this year.
